My experience matches yours. Every time I learned a new language, I gained a new understanding of a different way of doing things, and I was able to bring some

My experience matches yours. Every time I learned a new language, I gained a new understanding of a different way of doing things, and I was able to bring some of that understanding to my daily job's language. It's absolutely made me a better programmer. I didn't just study those languages for nothing, though. I always had a purpose in mind for them, with the possible exception of Ruby which just seemed neat.